So That's How It Is

"Xiao Yi, that's an excellent question!"

"Many soul masters only know how to cultivate by blindly following the paths of those before them, never stopping to think about why!"

"Very few people in the Soul Master World know the answers to these questions you've raised, but your Teacher happens to know a little!"

Qian Xunji praised Gu Ziyi before speaking with a smile.

Hearing that Qian Xunji actually knew, Gu Ziyi immediately perked up.

"Teacher, then hurry up and tell us!"

Bibi Dong urged him directly.

Gu Ziyi suddenly realized that having Bibi Dong beside him was quite nice too. She was simply the perfect spokesperson!

"The reason soul masters need to absorb soul rings from soul beasts is not merely to increase soul power and gain soul skills. The main purpose is to evolve their Martial Souls!"

"As for soul masters condensing soul rings themselves, that happened so long ago that the records are no longer clear. All we know is that over a hundred thousand years ago, a few soul masters once developed methods for condensing their own soul rings through trial and error. However, most soul rings condensed by soul masters had no soul skills, and their quality was too low—far inferior to those hunted from soul beasts!"

"More importantly, condensing soul rings yourself cannot bring evolution to your Martial Soul!"

"So gradually, no soul masters continued to condense their own soul rings!"

"And the methods for condensing soul rings oneself were lost long ago!"

"The facts have proven that this was the right choice, because over a hundred thousand years ago, the quality of soul masters' Martial Souls was nowhere near as strong as it is now!"

"The many powerful Martial Souls of today were gradually passed down after generation upon generation of soul masters evolved them by absorbing soul beast soul rings!"

Qian Xunji's simple explanation quickly gave Gu Ziyi and Bibi Dong a clear understanding.

It gave them the weighty feeling of witnessing history!

And an indescribable sense of awe!

It was as though they could see countless predecessors pressing onward one after another, striving for the development of Martial Souls.

Gu Ziyi's heart grew solemn. So the most important reason for absorbing soul beast soul rings was Martial Soul Evolution.

So soul masters had created their own soul rings long ago, only for the practice to later be discarded.

Did that mean his method of creating soul rings was wrong?

No... self-condensed soul rings could improve in quality. In the long run, they were in no way inferior to soul beast soul rings.

"So that's how it is. Teacher truly is impressive!"

Gu Ziyi looked at Qian Xunji with an admiring expression, then asked another question. "Teacher, I have one more question. When did the Advanced Meditation Technique first appear? Has it always existed?"

"The Advanced Meditation Technique? No, it hasn't. Its emergence was much closer to our time—it was created only several thousand years ago!"

Qian Xunji smiled faintly at the question and answered Gu Ziyi with ease.

Whew—

No wonder. No wonder the method of self-condensing soul rings had been lost. There had been no Advanced Meditation Technique back then, so those soul masters who successfully condensed their own soul rings had no idea that soul ring quality could be improved.

Hearing Qian Xunji's words, Gu Ziyi finally let out a long sigh of relief. At last, he understood.

Without the Advanced Meditation Technique, self-condensing soul rings was clearly a wrong path.

But this was no longer ancient times. The era had advanced, and paths that once could not be walked could now be taken.

Gu Ziyi even had a feeling.

It was only through the efforts of so many generations in the past, pressing onward to develop and evolve Martial Souls, that this era now possessed so many powerful Martial Souls.

It could be said that, aside from those low-quality Martial Souls, the rest had already developed to a relatively mature stage.

At this point, if those high-quality Martial Souls condensed their own soul rings, there definitely would no longer be cases of having no soul skills.

Especially the two Martial Souls Gu Ziyi knew of—the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and the Nine Heart Begonia. No matter what kind of soul beast soul rings these two Martial Souls absorbed, the soul skills they gained were always the same.

In other words, they no longer needed to draw anything from soul beast soul rings. Simply absorbing the energy within those soul beast soul rings was enough.

Therefore, if high-quality Martial Souls like these condensed their own soul rings, they would certainly possess soul skills.

For Spirit Hall soul masters with high-quality Martial Souls, self-condensing soul rings would be even better.

That was because self-condensed soul rings allowed better control over soul skills and could also improve soul ring quality. As long as the quality of the soul rings was raised later on, they would absolutely have greater potential than absorbing soul beast soul rings.

Especially for those Top Martial Souls that had already evolved to their limit, absorbing soul beast soul rings could no longer bring much evolution to their Martial Souls beyond adding soul skills with different characteristics.

Once the path of seeking outward had reached its end, one should turn inward instead.

Extract the traits of one's own Martial Soul, strengthen oneself, purify oneself, and seek new breakthroughs from within.

After later browsing through a vast number of records collected by Spirit Hall, Gu Ziyi became even more convinced of this.

In the past, batches upon batches of Top Martial Souls had appeared, yet none of them had ultimately been able to be passed down indefinitely.

That was because their Martial Soul Evolution had already reached its limit. They needed to seek breakthroughs from within themselves. Continuing to absorb soul beast soul rings was instead detrimental to the evolution of their Martial Souls, and could even lead to a decline in the quality of their descendants' Martial Souls due to incompatibility with their own Martial Souls.

Of course, God-given Martial Souls were another matter.

"It seems my Martial Soul really is extraordinary. Since it can possess soul skills—and such unusual soul skills at that—the Martial Soul itself must be anything but simple."

Gu Ziyi once again confirmed the uniqueness of his Martial Soul. He just did not know why, when it awakened, his Innate Soul Power had been only level 1.

"There had never been a Martial Soul like Talisman before. It was definitely the result of a mutation!"

"Could it be that my transmigration caused the original Paper Martial Soul to mutate into a Talisman? Did I bring the Talisman Martial Soul with me?"

"If that's the case, then it makes sense. My soul is rather unusual, so it's possible that it caused the Martial Soul to mutate!"

"Also, it's highly likely that this body's original owner had a Paper Martial Soul with no soul power—a Waste Martial Soul. Then, on the very first day I woke up, I underwent Awakening Martial Soul. My Martial Soul hadn't absorbed enough soul power to fully develop yet, so my Innate Soul Power was only level 1!"

"Damn it, if that's really the case, I'd rather have awakened a year later!"

After confirming that his Martial Soul was extraordinary, Gu Ziyi finally had some idea why his Innate Soul Power was so low.

He also understood why the quality of his Martial Soul was so poor: it had not fully developed yet. It could even be said that it had been awakened the moment it was born.

Why did the natives here wait until age six to awaken their Martial Souls? They obviously needed time to develop! As for why his First Soul Skill was a Taoist ability like the Purifying Heart Mantra, Gu Ziyi had no idea for the time being.

He hadn't been a Taoist in his previous life either. He only knew that Talismans were used by Taoists.